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Facebook or Blog?

January 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I ran across an interesting question today about where you should put more effort, in your blog or your Facebook page.

I’m not really sure why that is a question. Let me break it down for you.

Your website is your own personal piece of  internet real estate. Think of it as your home because in terms of your marketing, it is. Your blog should be the heart and soul of your website. In web design today, integrating your blog as a page on your website is the only way to go. If your blog is off on another url from your main one you are missing the boat.

Today’s brides go to one place to find their vendors above all others:

SEARCH.

If you aren’t ranking high in search engines for what you do and where you do it, you are behind the game.

Reread that last sentence. Notice I did not say for your name. I hope to hell you rank number one for your name. Unfortunately, that isn’t how brides search. They search for things in places.

Huh?

They search for florists in Bucks County.They search for wedding planners in Washington, DC. They search for caterers in Fairbanks, AK. They don’t search for Polly Sue Purebreds Catering. If they do it is because they have already been made aware of Polly Sue from a referral and that is a post for another day.

Now that you understand this, you understand why your personal piece of real estate is so important.

Back to the original question: your blog or Facebook.

Every time you post to Facebook, you are sending all that Google juice to Facebook.com, not to Polly Sue’s url. Great, I’m sure Mr. Zuckerberg appreciates the Google juice, but frankly, you need it worse than he does.

Think of it this way, you have an office or a store but you still meet people in the local coffee-house. Instead of investing to improve your office or store, you take time and treasure to improve the coffee-house. That’s just dumb.

How about this instead, you work on improving the store, and then post updates on the coffee-house bulletin board. When your potential customers start looking for you the coffee-house bulletin board is one of the many signs pointing to your store. When they get to your store, they see how amazing you are.

Enough with the analogies, if you don’t get it yet you never will.

Your blog should be an integrated part of your website.

Facebook should send traffic to your website, not the other way around.

Post to your blog and have it automatically cross-post a headline and an excerpt to your Facebook page leading them to your website.

 Done.

 

 

Filed Under: Announcement, Marketing, Social Media, Website marketing Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Wedding Blogs. Good Guys or Bad Guys?

November 10, 2011 By 1 Comment

So what’s with all the hate lately?

It seems that photographers are stepping up on their blogs to trash wedding bloggers. Really?

First this from Hindsight Bride.

Then this from Jonas Peterson, The Mason Jar Manifesto.

Then Off-beat Bride stepped up to defend Mason Jars.

Heck I have even had my own say in the matter a few months back.

Here is the deal, gang

Photographers want to get published on the top blogs. Bloggers want to do what pleases their readers.  Those aren’t always the same goal.

Heck it has even gotten to the point where brides will tell their planners, ” I want my wedding published on Style Me Pretty.”

Ya’ll are acting like Kim Kardashian. It’s supposed to be about the wedding, not the publicity.

but that isn’t my point…

You, photographers, your job is to give the client what they want. In most cases, that is pictures of people. Their friends and family.

Bloggers, your job is to give your readers what they want. In most cases that is detail. Who gives a rats ass about people they don’t know? All they want are ideas they can be inspired by and snag for their own wedding.

You are both right. You are both servicing your client.

So here is the deal. Photographers, if your goal is to get published, give the blog editors what they want:details. If that means hiring a second or third shooter to get those shots then that is what you have to do. You can’t expect the blog editor to throw their readers under the bus.

Read the editorial guidelines on the blogs you want on and follow them. When you interview your bride ask them questions about the details of their wedding. Is it going to be worth you paying another shooter to get them?  Notice I said ‘you paying’ not the bride. It’s your goal to get published, not hers.

It is time for everyone to stop the madness and start working together.

Know what you want and what it is going to take to get it. don’t just whine about it.

For the record, I’m not a big fan of mason jars, but if that was what my readers wanted to see they would be all over my blog! Check out Wedding Dish? Do you really think I love candles all THAT much?

I big hat tip to loyal reader and friend June Hoffman for pointing this nonsense out to me.

Filed Under: Ask Christine, Back to Basics, Rants & Raves Tagged With: ,

Blog Camp. Be There!

October 11, 2011 By 1 Comment

Are you afraid of blogging?

Do you struggle with what to write?

Many of my clients know they should be blogging as a way to market their business but are intimidated by the process. They don’t know what to write, think it has to be some long winded post or don’t feel that their writing skills are up to par. I give tips and ideas but often that isn’t enough.

Help is on the way!

Ashley King, long time friend of Think and owner of Ashley’s Bride Guide is finally hosting her fabulous Blog Camp again.  She hasn’t done one of these since 2009 but people are still talking about it.

Unlike so many seminars out there today that only spout generalities, Blog Camp is hands on, down to the nitty gritty and jam packed with valuable take-aways.

The blog camp will take place over 2 days and will cover just about everything you have ever wanted to learn – from setting up your blog to helping Google find it to promoting it on Twitter.   I assure you, this will be a very hands-on, informative camp – designed to get you motivated and to give you a step-by-step plan for taking your blog from idea to reality. I’ll discuss key obstacles and how to get around them along with how to grow your readers.

Don’t believe me, look at what some of Ashley’s former students have said.

I was ‘forced’ to sign up for Ashley’s Blog Camp by my daughters who said I would never be successful at my business & was warned “the world will leave you behind” if I didn’t learn how to blog. Thinking I could never learn about blogging, I had rather stand before a firing squad than go to blog camp.
Ashley was a wonderful teacher & certainly knows all about the blog world. She was not intimidating at all. She never continued in the class until she was sure you understood each step.
The class was fun & when it was over Ashley assured us that if we had any questions we could email her anytime.
Going to her class was one of the best tools I used in advancing Bella Weddings.
~Vickie Stanton / Bella Weddings

The blog camp was well organized and presented with lots of energy and a great working knowledge of the subject.  It is a must for anyone in any industry seeking more insight into the world of blogging.  It’s probably one of the best values for the money spent that I’ve participated in in years.

Martin O’Connor Photography

www.martinoconnorphoto.com

Ashley’s Blog Camp for wedding professionals was a very informative experience me as a Nashville Wedding Professional.  I attended the 1st blog camp in 2009 to give social media insight but took away so much more information.  Ashley is passionate about helping vendors reach their full potential at the same time connecting them to potential brides.  Whether it’s Google Analytics or finding your voice, she definitely practices what she teaches in BlogCamp  & gets results!
The “icing on the cupcake” is that she is a great encourager & cheerleader for new wedding professionals in helping them reach their full potential online. I would highly recommend Ashley’s Blog Camp to new wedding professionals & existing professionals needing a refresher!

A. Latrice Cushenberry
www.LatriceCushenberry.com

Event will take place on Sunday – November 6 & 13, 2011. Workshop will start at 3pm and will last for approx 4-5 hours, depending on questions.  For any of you in the mid south, this is a must attend.

For all the rest of my readers spread across the globe, Ashley has promised me that if there is enough interest she will host another one that is on a single weekend and arrange hotel deals for you. If you aren’t able to attend this on, either contact Ashley directly or leave a note in the comments telling her you are interested.

 

Ready to register?

 

 

Filed Under: Announcement, Back to Basics, Blog Tagged With: ,

Who Is Your Customer?

June 23, 2011 By 2 Comments

I got to thinking about this today as I was following a fairly heated conversation on a couple of wedding blogs. 

By and large, the customer base of wedding blogs and the wedding print media is wedding vendors, not the bride & groom.

Now think about that for a minute. Any information based business is going to advocate for their customer base. They are going to speak in such a way and feed their readers information that is going to enhance the position of their customers. Again, please remember, their customer is the wedding vendor.

What does this mean for the bride and our industry?

It means that today’s bride is being fed a steady diet that is not always in her best interest. She is being told what to do and what is hot based on what the wedding industrial complex wants to sell. Just take a look at the dramatic rise in staged photo shoots on wedding blogs. Yes, they are gorgeous, I won’t argue that. The problem is they aren’t reality, although they are often presented as such. Most are unreachable by the average bride. I hate to tell you, but not every couple is hipster or shabby chic. don’t even get me started on the wedding gowns shown in the major magazines editorial. I have ranted on that until I am blue in the face.

It is no wonder that today’s bride is turning to alternatives to wedding professionals. As heavily exposed as brides are to over the top weddings they are beginning to believe that they both will not be able to afford a “wedding” professional and that even if they could, said “professional”  wouldn’t listen to them anyway. It isn’t that they are exploring using professionals and deciding against it, they are looking for alternatives first.

Is there an answer? Maybe.

I think that every wedding professional out there has a blog, why not start using it to really advocate for the bride. There is this little thing called Karma. If you as wedding professionals start telling the truth, being an advocate for the bride, showing them that you do offer alternatives  they will come back. Not only that, they will see you as a savior, a bright light in the darkness and they will be your evangelists.

By the way, I plan on cross posting this on Wedding Dish.

 

Filed Under: Back to Basics, Rants & Raves Tagged With: ,

2 New Websites for You to Check Out

January 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I have been a busy little camper the last few weeks. I thought you might want to see that latest sites.

The first one is for a lovely lady in Sacramento, California, Amrit. Amrit specializes in SouthEast Asain weddings and to say that I loved all the images I had to work with would be an understatement of massive proportions. We also incorporated her already very popular blog, ShaddiCurry into the site.

Please have a look and enjoy.

The second one was for a florist I have known for years. We decided to get his site more current and add a blog. I look forward to seeing what he has to say.


Filed Under: Marketing, Website marketing Tagged With: , ,

Tried and True Methods to Get More Readers to Your Blog

October 1, 2010 By Leave a Comment

So you are out there updating your blog, adding pretty pictures and tagging them like you should but it still isn’t getting the traffic you want. What is a blogger to do?

First off, remember that it is ‘social’ media. Are you being social or are you just standing in a corner and shouting?

Picture a networking event. You show up, plaster your self with name tags and go stand against the wall and hope someone comes over to ask you about all the wonderful knowledge you have to share. That pretty much isn’t going to work, now is it?

Suppose on the other hand you walk in and start engaginging everyone you run across in conversation. You ask what they do, you pick their brain a bit and comment on their answers. Before you know it you have a pocket fat with busness cards of potential leads.

Well that is what you need to do for your blog.

I spend about an hour every morning getting social. I do things like stalk the proforums at places like Wedding Wire and commenting and helping. I leave comments on blogs when and where I have something to contribute. I answer questions on my Facbook profiles and comment on the status updates of my followers.In short, I wake up every morning and jump into the mix. It’s my daily marketing.

So where should you be spending your daily marketing hour? Basically anywhere that your target market can use your knowledge. Posting to the pro forums on Wedding Wire probably isn’t exactly marketing for you like it is me, we have different target markets. You need to be where the brides are reading. Other blogs may be your best bet. Look for blog posts each day that mention your service.

Example. If you are a florist, look for posts about, oh, I don’t know, hot centerpieces for fall, and comment on them. Offer up ideas and tips. Don’t dive in and say things like “I can make that for you!” Don’t be smarmy, be helpful.

Something else you should be doing is guest posting. Contact some of the blogs that you admire and see if they ever use guest writers. Trust me, a lot of blogger would love a day off. If they seem receptive, send them a couple of ideas that you could develop. If you can get a few of these on popular blogs your blog will take off too.

Bottom line, it is about being social, about being connected and about being helpful. It is about being part of the conversation.

It is true that the more you give the more you get.

Filed Under: Announcement, Back to Basics Tagged With: , ,

NY Times Article Must Read

September 13, 2010 By 1 Comment

If you haven’t caught the article in the Sept 12th edition of the venerable New York Times, Blogging Brides please take a minute to read it.

Some of you may think that at times I bang the drum a little hard when it comes to blogs and your online presence but I do it for a reason. That reason is because it works at a time when not much else does.

From the article, here is what one bride had to say:

Sara McCarty of St. Louis said that during the 14 months of planning for her July 2009 wedding near Jackson Hole, Wyo., “I started with some of the magazines, but I moved to the blogs because there were so many more ideas.”

Ms. McCarty, 30, added that she subscribed to more than 50 blogs, where she heard directly from brides about the ups and downs of wedding preparation, and was able to chat with some of them on online forums.

She added that this was “more helpful than a million pages of ads” in bridal magazines.

This is where today’s brides are getting thier ideas.

Couple this with another trend, that of brides having a very clear picture of what they want but having no idea of what it costs and it gives you a very strong opportunity. An oportunity to educate.

For too many years, you and I and every other wedding vendor has looked at the editorial content in magazines, TV shows and major websites and just rolled our eyes at what is being pushed by those that aren’t out there on the front lines. Who can forget the debacle created by the Knot on the Today show quoting the price of an over the top centerpiece at $100?

Blogs put the power to educate in your own two hands. Stop blowing smoke up these brides wedding gowns! If you post a picture of something, give them an indication of probable cost. If you post a picture of flowers, let them know what months they are available. I remember the cake in MS Weddings that was adorned with golden raspberries on the stem. When my produce broker stopped laughing he said he’s call me back. Answer? $75 a 1/4 flat overnighted from New Zealand. Educate, educate, educate!

If you post a DIY project, put some indication of the cost and time needed as well as maybe some indication of skill level.

Also in the article are some powerful example of what can happen if you get your work featured on one of the top blogs. Not a bad thing at all.

Now, do you want to tell me where you want to devote your marketing time and money?

Filed Under: Blog, Marketing, Rants & Raves, Website marketing Tagged With: , ,

How to Collect Testimonials

September 3, 2010 By Leave a Comment

We all know how important testimonials and reviews are; but where do you get them? You probably already have more of them floating around out there than you may think. You just have to know where to go to harvest them.

Your Inbox: Go back over those emails and hunt for any positive feedback. Chances are good that your clients have told you how wonderful you, your service and/or your products are. There names are right there. It’s a good idea to just use the reply button to ask them if they mind if you use the testimonial in your marketing material. That way, even if the email is a year or two old, you will be reminding them of the nice things they said.

Wedding Wire: You can either copy and paste onto your website or just link your reviews to your site. Wedding Wire has a handy badge that puts a few of  your reviews right into your sidebar.

Yelp!: If you are getting positive reviews on Yelp! you might as well use them. Again, copy and paste.

Twitter: Check any tweets that mention your name. (You do this any way, right?) You can hit Twitter search for your company name or you can just check for tweets with @{your twitter name} If you watch HGTV, they do a brilliant job of this.

Facebook: Check your fan page for positive comments from your fans. Send them a private message and ask if you can use their comment or ask if they would elaborate  for your marketing.

Your blog: Go back through the comments. I bet there are some that attest to your design style or just general brilliance. Go with them, they are already public. You should also consider putting a tag in you signature line inviting people to comment on the post.

Google Alerts: In addition to what other Google Alerts you have set up, you should also have them set up for your name. You never know when some one is going to mention you on their blog. You can always add that to either your testimonials or your press page. This should also yield any mentions on the Knot or similar sites.

Email marketing: If you do email marketing, include a survey in your emails and just come out and ask for testimonials.

Wedding Websites: Get in the habit of asking your clients if they have a wedding website. This may yield a lot of information in addition to testimonial. What do you want to be they will post wedding pics? I don’t know anyone that doesn’t complain about not getting images of their works. Be sure to ask if you can use them first. Before the wedding, you may be able to get a deeper feel for your client and what they really think by reading their site.

Now that you’ve got them, what do you do with them.

Put them on your website.

You should have a testimonial or accolades page in you main navigation menu. More that that, pepper them through out your site. If you do a blog post about a wedding and then get a testimonial you can always go back and add it to the post. It’s a little known fact that if you have a dynamic website  your homepage is probably not where most of your traffic from search lands first. If they do a search for pink and green weddings or wedding food on skewers or escort card they will land on the page that talks about that, not your homepage. So, it pays to put testemonials in as many place as possible in addition to your accolades page.

Marketing Package

If your business is the kind that puts together a full on marketing packet, you should have a page of testimonials in it. You never know who will see these and you always want to let them know what others are saying.

Testimonial are powerful, in some ways they are another form of word of mouth marketing.

Filed Under: Back to Basics, What Brides Say Tagged With: , , , , ,

Relax, it’s Only Blogging or Why Vanilla Won’t Get Me Off the Couch

June 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment

In a recent post I asked the question, Why Do You Blog? And I followed it up by trying to explain that the best way to blog is to be yourself. I want to elaborate on that and why I feel that way.

So many n00b bloggers get hung up on getting every word perfect, on making everyone like them, of having something for everyone. What they end up with is a bland, generic almost corporate”been run through legal first” boring blog.  That’s not what engages customers.

What engages customers is when they can relate to you. They engage when they have a sense of who the person writing is, what they believe and how they think. If you concentrate too much on making it perfect or not offending anyone you are not going to show your personality.

OK, so you don’t want to offend anyone. Well, in the real world that isn’t going to happen. Not everyone is going to ‘get’ you or like you. That’s just the way it is.

Blogs are a marketing tool for most of us. Marketing is about client attraction. Client attraction isn’t just about numbers, or attracting everyone. Client attraction should be about attracting the customers that are the best ft for you.

Reread those last 3 paragraphs.

So if you write from the heart, there is a good chance you are going to offend someone. Guess what. They weren’t your client any way. Your goal with your blog should be to attract the clients that are a good fit.  I have written about refining your target market enough that by now you should know that not every bride is your bride.

The best way to attract ‘your’ bride is to let them know who you are.

Let’s take an example:  Offbeat Bride. Now I can just about guarantee that some of the content is going to offend some people; especially traditionalists.  Guess what, she has one of the loyalist followings out there. Oh, I’m sure it isn’t as big as Style Me Pretty of Wedding Bee, but baby, they will defend that site to the end. That is what you want from your followers; evangelical loyalty.

Vanilla may be the most popular flavor by the number of gallons sold, but it isn’t a flavor that will get you off the couch in the middle of the night.

You can’t be all things to all people. If you are true to yourself and your passions, you will attract the people that are like minded. Those are the people that are going to become your clients.

We don’t sell widgets that can be prepackaged and commoditized. We are in a creative field and as such, people hire us as much because they like the way we view the world as for the product itself.  The only truly unique selling point that you have, that no one can take away or copy is you.

If your blog is too cut and dried, too sanitized, you aren’t showing readers the one thing that will make them come back for more: Your unique view of the world, warts and all.

Trust me, I’ve taken my share of hits from people that don’t agree or like my point of view. Too bad, don’t read my posts. What my followers know is that they will always get my honest opinion. They know that I am never going to pull any punches. They know that I am genuinely who I say I am.

That is what your clients want to

Filed Under: Back to Basics Tagged With: , ,

Why Do You Blog?

June 29, 2010 By 1 Comment

I create blog-sites for a lot of different clients. They all have different reasons for doing it.

At the root of why most of them blog is for marketing, but not always. I have had a few that want to keep their website but add a platform that they have control of themselves. A lot of them understand that they can just replace the old site with a blog-site and maximize all there efforts into one url.

If you are only blogging because someone told you that you have to then you are bound to fail. You will end up resenting the effort you have to put into it and your writing will show it.

The best blogs come from people that have a genuine desire to share. They want to share their knowledge, or the cool things they find, or brag on their friends, or tell a story that is evolving over time. The best bloggers love what the have to share, they are connected to it and in turn to their audience. You can’t fake that.

I run across clients from time to time that over think it. As a consequence they never post, they are paralyzed by the fear of getting it wrong.

Here is the best advice you will ever get to get you started:

Think of your blog as a conversation with a friend. That friend that you can talk to for hours.  That friend that values your opinion even if the disagree with you. That friend that shares your passions. Then write ever blog post as if you were talking to them.

Write in the same tone you would use with them. Think of your readers as your perfect pen pal.

Then just enjoy the ride.

Once you have found your voice, then you can worry about all the geeky details.

Filed Under: Inspiration, Personal Coaching, Rants & Raves Tagged With: ,
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